What's awesome is to get direct feedback on this discussion without it descending into...

Which is common on the Internet.

Absolutely.

To continue...

Something some folks don't understand about SWAT's role in warrant execution is that it's not SWAT who gets the warrant or searches the house. During a warrant all SWAT's role is is to enter and secure the place being searched. Once that is accomplished the scene is turned over to detectives and regular patrol to continue their investigation.

There's also an important distinction between a conversation regarding the use of tactical teams and regular patrol officers wearing ACU's. Most SWAT teams are part time affairs staffed by regular officers who suit up only when needed.

His heart was visible, and the dismal sack that maketh excrement of what is eaten.

Join Date

Mar 2006

Posts

6,925

Posted On:7/21/2013 1:13pm

--

Phrost, you'd have an aneurysm if you took a look inside my buddy's patrol vehicle. He's a former Marine sniper working for the Sheriff's Dept. He's part of the tactical team and they serve felony warrants nonstop in a rural county.

They take full advantage of his skill set and he's equipped with all the gear he needs to provide surveillance and cover in a rural environment, right down to the ghillie suit.

I get just as angry as the next guy when I'm watching the news and see a botched or over zealous police raid. But as far as the discussion about how the community should be served - I'm confident in my buddy's case and in many other cases the community wants them doing this work. The Sheriff is elected and motivated by self interest. If the local citizens were upset it would stop. They want these raids. They just want them done right.

My question is when LEOs raid the wrong place the people who where cuffed and put on the floor face down for 2 hours asks who or what org or dept. do you work for? Are the LEOs required to ID themselves ? This happened to a friend of mine. A user was caught holding and the deal was point out your suppler and we let you go. They drove this "kid" around for hours before he pointed out my friend's home. No drugs or stolen property were found. No sorries or contact this number for the damage done. Joe

My question is when LEOs raid the wrong place the people who where cuffed and put on the floor face down for 2 hours asks who or what org or dept. do you work for? Are the LEOs required to ID themselves ? This happened to a friend of mine. A user was caught holding and the deal was point out your suppler and we let you go. They drove this "kid" around for hours before he pointed out my friend's home. No drugs or stolen property were found. No sorries or contact this number for the damage done. Joe

I don't know how they do things there ("police" seem to get lumped together as a homogeneous group..but we all do things differently). Here we have to leave a copy of the search warrant at any place we hit.

When it comes to getting warrants it again depends on how the police there do things. A person can go before a judge and swear that he saw/purchased drugs at a house and the judge can issue a warrant based on that testimony. I like to have an actual purchase of drugs from a house before I get a warrant....surprise, surprise some people like to lie that they saw drugs at an enemy's house in order to get a combination of cooperation with the police and revenge.

Kudos to Phrost for linking to that Tiabbi article. Just goes to show that if you're big enough and high up enough, you are virtually immune to prosecution. The real deal isn't so much whether cops wear camo, but whether HSBC is still laundering drug money for the cartels - and who is turning a blind eye.

I do have to say that some of these 20 man PD's creating Teams that use 3/4's of their department to execute arrest warrants that wouldn't meet the thresholds on most assessments are not helping....

But the argument regarding the sheer numbers of SWAT uses prove noting IMO....some people seem to think that uniformed or plainclothes officers kicking in a door is "better" because they are not wearing helmets or carrying M4"s. A cop serving a warrant is a cop serving a warrant regardless of what he's wearing/holding. What is important is that the right tactics/approach is being used no matter the gear.

This got me wondering, if a twenty-man PD ended up having to serve a warrant to one of a potentially violent group of people, say an anarchist-toned survivalist commune, what should they do?

This got me wondering, if a twenty-man PD ended up having to serve a warrant to one of a potentially violent group of people, say an anarchist-toned survivalist commune, what should they do?

They should probably call for the support of a regional SWAT team and/or the state police team.

tgace is correct; when a smaller department forms a team like this, it eats up a majority of their resources. In my area, we have Homeland Security funded, regional teams. A twenty man department may have one or two officers assigned to that team on a part-time basis.

— SWAT raids are directed disproportionately against people of color — 30 percent of the time the "race of individual people impacted" was black, 11 percent of the time Latino, 20 percent white and 30 percent unknown.

— Armored personnel vehicles that local law enforcement agencies have received through grants from the Department of Homeland Security are most commonly used for drug raids and not school shootings and terrorist situations.

— In cases in which police cited the possible presence of a weapon in the home as a reason for utilizing a SWAT team, weapons were found only 35 percent of the time.